Back at the White House, Fitz tries to talk Mellie out of getting publicly inaugurated. Mellie, doubles up on security, but decides to goes through with it. Fitz, meanwhile, greenlights B-16.

At the inauguration, Maya takes out one of the snipers and sets up to take a shot, but before she can shoot, Eli finds her and takes her down. Liv, who was on the phone with her mother before she was taken out, learns that Maya wasn’t looking to kill Mellie.

Liv questions Fitz’ decision to have her mother shot. He defends his stance, but makes Liv suspicious when he goes into a private meeting with Rosen. After some digging, Liv finds out that Fitz plans to run a reinstated B-16.

Fitz tells Liv he cannot stay and is leaving D.C. They say their goodbyes, with Liv tearful. She runs out to meet him and they publicly kiss on the front lawn with the cameras following their every move.

Meanwhile, Liv heads to Quinn’s office to try to figure out who Maya was trying to shoot. After recreating Frankie Vargas’ assassination, they discover Luna Vargas was the one that Maya was trying to assassinate.

Liv finds Luna and confronts her, but Luna — now officially vice president — tells Liv there is nothing she can do about it.

Liv confides in Jake who tells her they will figure it out. Liv seems doubtful saying that there can be no mistakes with the first woman president. Liv later visits her mother in the hospital and tells her she knows it was Luna. Maya, who can see Liv is defeated, tells her to go get back her White House.

Meanwhile, Abby tells Quinn she wants to work with her and the gladiators again. Quinn, who’s happy with Abby’s decision, decides to tell Charlie she’s pregnant.

After Mellie takes a moment to enjoy her the Oval Office, she visits Cyrus at home and asks him to be her date to the inaugural ball.

Later, Liv tells Jake she has a plan to get rid of Luna.

After being confronted by Olivia and Jake, Luna confesses she paid someone to kill her husband because she wanted to go down in history. She begs for Olivia to not kill her. Liv tells Luna to instead kill herself by taking some pills. If not, Jake would kill her, put her in a ditch and reveal she’s a murder to the world. Luna agrees to take the pills while Jake waits until she dies.

Liv later gets Mellie to sign off on B-16 without knowing. Now in command, Liv tells her father she is now running B-16, wants Sunday dinners with him and to not get on her bad side or face the consequences.

After getting everything in order, Liv tells Cyrus everything. However she soon learns that Cyrus was the one planting the evil seed in Luna’s head while personally eyeing the vice presidency.

Realizing his motives, Liv decides to give Cyrus what he wants — the vice presidency — while she remains the most powerful woman in the world — the woman running the president.

“Tick, Tock”

On Thursday’sScandalepisode “Tick, Tock,” Olivia, Eli Pope and Fitz try to find Olivia’s mother Maya who they realize is looking to assassinate the new president, Mellie.

After a failed effort, Olivia, tells Mellie she’s in jeopardy and tells her a public inauguration may be out of the question. Meanwhile the new gladiator squad — Quinn, Charlie and Huck — also are on the lookout for Liv’s mother.

Jack, Eli and David find out that Liv’s mother is looking to meet with a new contact from the CIA. Jack traces her to the contact’s hotel and arrests her.

In an interrogation room, Maya tells Eli she came to D.C. to protect her daughter. She then goes on a rant about Eli and tries to belittle him as he watches her through the glass of the interrogation room.

Liv finds the gladiators back at her old offices — which Quinn now runs — and hires them to find out if someone is trying to kill her, like her mother claims.

Back at the interrogation room, Eli patiently watches Maya as she continues to rant. Eventually she breaks down. He then turns to Liv and tells her he’s now ready to go in and talk to her.

Eli asks Maya what her plans are and if she was behind Peus and plans to kill Mellie.

Maya denies that she has done anything wrong. She accuses him of not protecting Olivia. They argue about not being good parents to their daughter. Eli tries to break Maya, but she stands firm and says it’s not she who played him. He seems to believe her. He exits the room and gives Liv a stare as if they both know that she might be telling the truth.

At his dinosaur lab, Liv confronts her father about not wanting to interrogate her mother. Liv realizes that her dad might actually believe her mother and does not have the gumption to break her down. Eli tells Liv to have Mellie do the inauguration underground to avoid any danger.

Meanwhile, Fitz recounts the time he was shot and tells Mellie to deter her from doing a public inauguration.

Abby, who was enlisted by Quinn to find Maya’s connection, discovers that Maya wasn’t the one who orchestrated everything – she was just a hired assassin. Liv tries to get her mother to confess, but her mother sees right through her. Liv chokes her, but is pulled back by Jake.

Back at the White House, Mellie talks to Liv. Liv apologizes for losing control over her mother and not finding out truth. Mellie still refuses to give up the inauguration. They later both agree that the inauguration should go on.

Liv tells Fitz that they should let May go so they can find out who she is working for – but Fitz says no. Jake, however, decides to go with Liv’s plan and they implant her with a tracking device.

In a conversation with Abby, Quinn reveals she is pregnant, but is scared she is not fit to be a mother.

Eli, later finds out Maya is free and asks Fitz to reinstate B16 as his last act of power. Liv, meanwhile, tells Mellie that she is now making major decisions for her presidency.